Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe – 2017 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The Leech Lake Band intends to pursue an energy-savings performance contract through an energy service company. However, to fully understand which energy conservation measures to pursue, this project will fund the Band to perform an investment-grade audit on 22 tribal government buildings. Energy savings of nearly 40% of energy costs, which equates to more than $800,000 in savings annually, have been identified through the benchmarking of 74 tribal buildings. This work will move the Band one step closer toward realizing those benchmarked savings.

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has set forth a vision of persistently seeking sustainable energy solutions, as evidenced by several solar projects in place across the Reservation and future plans for additional sustainable projects. In one of these projects, the Band is evaluating aging and inefficient infrastructure in government facilities.

The benchmarking of 74 tribal buildings identified a potential savings of nearly 40% of energy costs, which equates to more than $800,000 savings annually. Achieving the benchmark goal will benefit the tribal community immensely and establish its status as a leader for energy efficiency and sustainability among tribes and in the local area. This project will further develop and provide steps for implementing an energy action plan. This plan will address the needs of reducing energy costs, upgrading aging infrastructure, and decreasing maintenance costs and will help the Band to continue its growth as a sustainable leader.

This project will further develop and provide steps for implementation of an Energy Action Plan. This plan will address the needs of reducing energy costs, upgrading aging infrastructure, and decreasing maintenance costs.

Not all savings will be achieved during the performance period of the grant; however, the foundation will be laid. The selection of an energy service company (ESCO) is the first objective of the proposed project. Upon selection, the ESCO will provide an investment-grade audit of 22 tribal buildings. The completion of this audit is the second objective of the proposed project. The third and final objective of the proposed project is developing an Energy Action Plan. The ESCO will provide energy conservation measures upon completion of the audit. The Technical and Business Contact, facility managers, and team will coordinate with the ESCO to identify which energy conservation measures to pursue. These measures will be evaluated on the basis of high savings potential with a feasible payback plan. Once all measures are approved with the ESCO and the Tribal Council, the proposed project will be complete.

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is located in northern Minnesota. The Leech Lake Reservation is 865,000 acres in size and home to more than 8,000 tribal members. This project will survey and assess 22 tribal government buildings located on the reservation.

The project is complete. For additional details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Fiscal Year 2016 funding opportunity announcement “First Steps Toward Developing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on Tribal Lands – 2016” (DE-FOA-0001621) and started in September 2017.

The December 2018 project status report provides more information.